


Lycan Life

by TirNanOg89



Series: Lycan AU [1]
Category: Criminal Minds, Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Wincest - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 23:09:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7381291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TirNanOg89/pseuds/TirNanOg89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little back story, how the boys fit in to this universe. Mid season 4, Sam is 24, Dean 28.</p>
<p>Not for Daddy Winchester fans. Off screen child abuse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lycan Life

Lycan Life.

The boys had always been unusually close, even John could see that. For years after Mary's death Dean had stopped talking, and when he started again it was only to Sam for years more. They spent so much time together and so little time socialising that it was inevitable, for a long time he was just glad he didn’t have to worry about them, Dean never got into fights or argued, just did as he was told and took care of them both. Then John realised that even when they had the choice they stayed away from others. Whenever he was between hunts he would try to take them to a park or playground, but they would never play with the other children. At first he put it down to habit, they weren't used to mixing, so he tried to encourage them, but it never worked. Dean held his self differently to others his age, which was to be expected, by the time he was six he used a gun and a knife like a pro, he had to look after Sam and take care of anything that might happen while John wasn’t around, so he didn’t expect him to be average, but he hadn't realised he had made his son so paranoid. Any time a child tried to get near Sam, Dean would be right there, watching their every move, and more than once John had seen Dean rubbing the small of his back, where he kept his knife, when an adult walked towards them, or looked in their direction for too long. He couldn’t help but feel proud that Dean was so vigilant, so aware of everything and everyone around him, he also couldn’t help worrying what he was doing to his children. So he took them to Pastor Jim.

Pastor Jim was the best ally he could hope for with the boys, he ran a small day care centre in his church where the boys spent their days, but it wasn’t long before he called John and asked if he could give the boys counselling too. John grabbed at the offer with both hands and couldn’t thank him enough. They both thought it was going well, until the beginning of the school year came around, Dean was 8 and was told he was being sent to school for the first time. 

Dean refused.

With his first words to anyone but Sam since The Fire, Dean made a very logical, serious and passionate case for why he had to stay with Sam and look after him, he wouldn’t be swayed by anything Jim said or did and refused to go. So Jim home schooled him, teaching Sam at the same time, and they were both happy and learning well, so well Pastor Jim soon had problems keeping up with them. So he hired a tutor. 

That ended badly. 

Once it was all said and done the tutor was transferred out of the hospital straight to prison. 

When Jim heard the screams coming from their 'school' room he ran in to find the tutor curled on the floor covered in blood, 4 year old Sam backed into a corner with Dean guarding him, bloody knife in hand. When the police came they couldn’t get a word out of either boy, they couldn’t get close to them either, Dean still wielding the knife with serious intent and a blank icy look in his eyes that scared Jim and most of the cops. Jim rang John and found he was already on his way to see them. It took John an hour to reach them. He found Jim and several cops hovering outside a room, he could see a pool of blood through the door and ran straight in.

"Sam, Dean?"  
"Dad?"  
"Dean, what happened?"  
"I'm sorry Sir."  
"What happened?"  
"I went to pee, it was just before lunch break and he said I could go early and meet Sam in the kitchen, but I went straight back Sir, I went straight back! He had his pants undone! He was trying to get Sammy to touch his cock, so I cut it off."

John was so proud of Dean in that moment, protecting his brother, not hesitating to use what he had taught him, and also very slightly scared. Dean's eyes were blank and full of ice and he was still holding the knife ready to use, still had Sam pressed into the corner, protecting him.

"You did good Dean, you did good, you protected Sammy. You did your job right boy."

Dean finally looked at his dad properly, he had done right, that was all he needed to know. He looked down at the knife and flinched.

"I should have cleaned it straight away, I'm sorry Sir, I'll clean it now, I'll do it right."  
"Don’t worry Dean, the police need to see it, can I have it for them?"  
"But, then I wont have one. I need one to protect Sammy."  
"It's ok son, I'm here now."  
"But I need to protect Sammy. I'm not strong enough without the knife, Pastor Jim don’t like guns."

John wasn’t stupid, or slow, he realised Dean didn’t trust him to protect Sam. That was when everything started to go down hill fast. John couldn’t cope with knowing his own son didn’t trust him with his perfect Sammy, just like their mother hadn't. He reached for the knife in his ankle holster and held it out to Dean, he didn’t have the time to argue, and too many people were watching.

"Take this one Dean, I'll give the other to the cops, you can keep an eye on Sam, ok?"

Dean hesitated, glancing over his shoulder at Sam who looked him in the eye and nodded. Dean nodded back to him and took his dads knife, then handed him the other. John took the knife by the blade and smiled at Dean before taking it to the police still waiting with Jim.

"The boys will have to come with us Mr Winchester, we have to take statements and get them checked over in the hospital."

John shook his head.

"You've seen my boys? You think either of em's going anywhere near anyone they don’t know right now? Forget it, you heard what Dean just told me, I'm sure you can look into it without traumatising my boys any further."

John didn’t let it go much further than that, he got rid of the police, Pastor Jim got ready to clean the mess and John packed the boys bags, he wasn’t leaving them again. John didn’t know what to do for the best, but he wasn’t going anywhere without his boys.

They went back on the road, John hunting and leaving Dean to look after Sam, and he did it well. Dean doted on Sam, he made sure he was safe and happy, well fed and clothed and had everything he needed, if John had any complaints it was that Sam got his way a little too much, was a little too well protected, and he wondered if the boy was ever going to grow up, or forever be his brothers shadow. He soon found out he needn't have worried, Sam was very capable of looking after his self, Dean had taught him well, and it wasn’t long before he was wishing the boy hadn't grown up, he was too independent for his own good, or Johns. 

By the time Sam was eight John was practically a stranger to him, just a man that gave them money and screwed up their lives regularly, someone that made Dean edgy and unhappy and ordered him around. He was also not to be trusted, Sam knew that because Dean had told him not to tell him about their inheritance. He was not a man Sam liked, and Sam was always one to make his opinion known. 

****************

Dean had always known what they were, and that dad could never know. When mom died he realised he would have to go through the change alone, and he would have to get Sam through it too. Mom had told him bedtime stories since he could remember, about her mothers family, how they were special, how he was special, and how they couldn’t let his father know, because he wouldn’t understand. After she died, and dad lost his self in grief, Dean knew he could never let him know what he and Sam were, he was so convinced all things supernatural were evil. So Dean had told Sam the same stories mom had told him, prepared him just as he had been prepared, and was glad when dad started leaving them alone more and more. By the time Dean's first change hit him at 12, 8 year old Sammy was excited, proud and wouldn’t stop playing with his fur. Dean looked just like a timber wolf, he had a golden brown belly, his fur darkening almost to black on his back, with an almost black face and patches of ginger, especially on his muzzle and ears. They were Lycan's, he had explained to Sam just as Mom had explained to him, not werewolves, and there was a big difference. Werewolves were diseased mindless beasts, slaves to the moon and their base instincts, a bastardised abomination, a virus, neither man nor animal, just the worst instincts of both. Lycan's were man and animal at will, the best of both creatures, able to change at will, retaining their mind in both forms. There was good and bad in all things, and Lycan's were no different, so hunters knew of them, but they only ever saw the bad and assumed they were werewolves, they never looked any further, so they didn’t see the small family groups that lived alongside 'normal' people, just wanting to live their lives without hurting anyone, or being hurt. Dean knew his dad, he knew his views on 'good' and 'evil' ran heavily on the lines of 'human' and 'not', so he never told him what they were, and he didn’t trust him with Sam. 

******************

John knew his boys were falling further and further away from him, and he didn’t know what to do about it. He kept them with him on the road, setting them up in a motel whenever he had to be away for a hunt, he made sure they had everything he could provide for them, but they were still drawing away from him. They were getting closer to each other though, and that worried him more. They never socialised unless they had to, Sam was practically glued to Dean most of the time, and they still shared a bed, even when they didn’t need to. He always got a two bed room wherever they stayed, but when he got back one bed would always be untouched. He came home early after a hunt when Dean was fourteen, around three AM, quietly making his way into the room. As he expected, Dean greeted him with a gun, what he hadn't expected was to find him wrapped around Sam. It was disconcerting to find his boys curled up together in the one bed, not just sharing it, but wrapped up in each other. He couldn’t help flinching at the thought that it was just the way he and Mary used to sleep. Dean didn’t say a word, just slowly lowered the gun, still staring him in the eye, wrapping his arm back around Sam and lowering his head, eventually shutting his eyes and going back to sleep. That unsettled John even more. Dean had always been the obedient one, the quiet son he could depend on to do as he was told without asking questions, who followed orders without fail, but the look he had just given him, he couldn’t help shuddering, he knew, deep down in his bones that if he had made any move, even looked like he was thinking about hurting Sam, he would have died. He knew that look, had seen it in the eyes of so many soldiers and hunters, and now his teenage son. He didn’t like it, but he knew it was too late to do anything about it, he had raised his boys, especially Dean, to be hunters, killers, he couldn’t complain when it worked. 

******************

Sam was eleven the first time he had a wet dream. Dean had been a very sexual creature since he was about the same age so he wasn’t surprised when he woke to Sam humping his leg in his sleep, he grinned and shifted to give his baby brother more friction and waited him out. It didn’t take long, and didn’t make any mess so Dean just hugged him close and went back to sleep. It happened often for a few weeks, then Sam woke up before he had finished one night. He paused as he woke, hips stuttering, then looked up into his brothers eyes, Dean grinned down at him and Sam rocked his cock forward into his leg, groaned and started thrusting against him again, moaning loudly as he came in his shorts. Dean couldn’t stop grinning, his brother was finally growing up, he leant forward and kissed his forehead then tucked him in close as they both fell asleep.

****************

Sam, for all his antics with John, was a good boy, a good student, he learnt well, and easily, kept his head down and never caused any problems in school. So when Dean got called to the Principals office of the latest school their father had dumped them in, just before Sammy's 12th birthday, he assumed it was about his self. He walked into the office with his usual 'I'm innocent' look on his face but it dropped as soon as he saw Sam with a tissue to his bleeding head. He ignored the rest of the room, rushing straight to Sam and dropping to his knees in front of him.

"What the hell happened? Who did this to you? Where are they?"  
"Mr Winchester, this is a difficult situation."

Dean growled at the Principle, glaring at him for a moment before looking back to Sam who gave him a weak smile.

"It's ok Dean, I sorted it."  
"He put the young man in hospital!"

Dean grinned at Sam who ducked his head to hide his own grin.

"What did the douche do to Sammy?"  
"Yes, well, by all accounts Mr Grey has been causing some trouble for Sam lately, and did attack him this afternoon, the problem we have now is how Sam dealt with that. Instead of walking away your brother used violence. Mr Grey has a broken wrist and concussion."  
"Nice one Sammy!"  
"I am disappointed with that attitude Mr Winchester! Violence is never the answer."  
"How long has this douche been picking on Sammy? And he's ignored it, until the little shit got violent! Then he dealt with it. You said he's been causing problems, so why haven't your staff done anything about it? You ignored it, like every school does, so Sammy dealt with it his self. The little shit will think twice before he picks on someone again, so thank Sammy for doing your job, deal with the douche and everyone's happy."  
"That is not appropriate! The only reason the police haven't been involved is Sam's age, this is not acceptable behaviour. I will have to call your father in."  
"Good luck. When he gets back at the end of the week we're leaving, so get over yourself, the reason you didn’t call the cops is cause it's the other idiots fault and his daddy has enough money for you to take it out on Sam and let his little shit skate. Go ahead and tell me I'm wrong. Sammy, we're going."

They both got up and walked out, neither of them paying any attention to the tirade following them. Dean put his arm around Sam's shoulders and pulled him in for a quick hug.

"You did well Sammy, good job."

Sam looked up at his big brother and smiled, he loved making him proud of him. They didn’t bother going back to that school, and they didn’t bother telling dad when he got back, it was just one more thing that he didn’t need to know.

****************

When Sam was twelve and his first change hit him Dean took him to a forest and they ran together all night. Sam was a lot darker than Dean, he was almost entirely plain chocolate brown, with just a few white patches on his muzzle. Dean was so proud of his baby brother, he was an amazing person, in both his forms, and it saddened him that their father would never know, could never know, because his world was so black and white, and they lived in the grey.

****************

One night not long after his first change Sam was restless when they went to bed. Dean hugged him close.

"What's up darling?"  
"I'm hard Dean, but I'm tired, fix it?"

Dean chuckled at his tired whine.

"What you want me to do about it?"  
"That thing you do in the shower when you get hard, please?"

Dean sighed, he never could say no to his Sammy.

"Take your shorts off then, and turn over."

In moments Sam was naked and had his back plastered to Deans front. Dean chuckled again and ran his hand soothingly up and down his thigh for a moment before reaching around for his cock. He gently took it in his hand and smoothly stroked him to full hardness. He let go for a moment and Sam whined, he chuckled again and licked his hand, getting it good and slick before taking Sam's cock again. Sam shuddered and thrust into his slick hand, moaning beautifully as he rocked his ass back against Deans cock which was starting to pay attention to the proceedings. Sam clearly noticed Deans now rock hard cock and wriggled back against it before thrusting into his fist again, rocking between the two almost frantically, constantly moaning. Dean didn’t even think about holding back, he thrust his hips hard against his brother, sliding between his ass cheeks, slicked by his own pre-cum as Sam moved faster between his hand and cock. It didn’t take long for either of them to cum, Dean following Sam over the edge as they came moaning each other's names. 

There was no discussion, no planning or thinking, they just naturally continued, Dean, as always, giving Sam everything he asked for, no matter what it was. When Sam wanted a hug he got one, when he wanted to rub off against Dean he did, when he wanted a scrapped knee kissed better it was kissed, when he wanted Deans hands on him they were there, when he asked for Deans mouth he got it, wherever he wanted it. 

What Sam wanted, Sam got, every time.

*******************

When Dean turned seventeen John decided to put his foot down. He should have known it was doomed to failure from the start, he had tried when Sam was about nine and failed then, but he planned to try again at least. Dean was no longer a boy, hadn't been for a long time, probably since they lost Mary if he was honest, but now he had the adult body to go with the attitude and protective mentality. John knew they were still sharing a bed and after a particularly long, hard and painful hunt he came home to find them wrapped around each other again, like he did every time he came back during the night, only he couldn’t ignore it any more. Dean was a man now, and Sam was thirteen, he was old enough to sleep alone. John wasn’t stupid enough to try and have that conversation with Dean half asleep and aiming a .45 at him, so he quietly went to bed and left it till morning. That plan went to hell when he woke up to Dean cooking breakfast.

"Come on Sammy! Get your ass out here! The foods done."  
"Coming, coming, keep your panties on Jerk."  
"Aint wearing any Bitch, shift it!"

Sam came out of the bathroom scrubbing his hair dry and plonked his self at the table. Dean smiled tenderly at him and put his plate of food in front of him, ruffling his hair as he walked away. Sam smiled up at him before digging in to his food.

"What time did he get here?"

John didn’t appreciate the tone of voice but decided he would probably learn more if he let them continue thinking he was asleep, so he frowned but kept his mouth shut.

"About half four, he'll probably sleep for a while more."  
"Good."  
"Sammy."

Dean's voice was almost pleading. Sam sighed.

"I'm sorry Dean, but he just interferes, and he makes you jittery."

John almost gasped at that, but years of self control kicked in and kept him still and silent. Dean sighed and sat to the table with his own plate.

"Please just leave it Sammy, you know it's not his fault."  
"Yes, it is. If he paid a little attention to either of us for five minutes instead of just ordering us around he would know better. If he 'asked' you for once instead of ordering he might just realise you're a person not a tin soldier."  
"Sammy, please!"  
"I know, I'm sorry Dean, I know how much it gets to you, but I know how much he hurts you every time he's here, and it pisses me off. He doesn’t do it to me because I stand up to him."  
"Because you can."

Dean almost whispered that, head hanging, and Sam sighed, getting up from his seat and moving round to Dean. Sam wrapped his arms around Dean's shoulders and pulled him in, Dean gripping the front of his shirt and burying his head in his chest. Sam held him for a long time, crooning and burying his nose in Deans hair.

"Shh, shh sweetheart, I'm sorry, I've got it out now, I'll keep quiet, I wont start anything, promise, it'll be ok."

John could have cried, for so many reasons. Apparently he scared his eldest boy and disgusted his youngest, when the hell had that happened? Dean had always been strong, followed orders without arguing, he knew John only ever did what was for the best, didn’t he? He knew the discipline was necessary didn’t he? Shit! And he didn’t even want to think where he had gone wrong with Sam, his little angel, his golden boy. He knew it was wrong to have favourites, but Dean had always been Mary's boy and he had overcompensated when she died, because Sam had never got the chance to know her. Apparently that was not the way his boys saw things.

"Come on Dean, eat your breakfast for me, you always cook so well, don’t let me ruin it for you, please. I'm sorry for bringing it up, I wont start anything, promise, just eat for me ok?"

Dean looked up at him, finally releasing his shirt and nodded silently. Sam sighed and fetched his plate and chair, putting his self right next to Dean and leaning against him while they both finished their breakfast. Dean cleared up then sat back at the table, still quiet but calm and settled again, while Sam brushed his teeth and got his things ready for school. Once he was ready to leave, Sam gave Dean a hug and dropped a kiss on the top of his head before going off to school.

John sighed and shifted slightly, pretending to wake up. Dean startled, jumping up and starting to cook more food ready for him, his body settling into it's usual casual stance. If he hadn't witnessed the last hour he would never have known anything was wrong, but now he was looking for it he saw so many things, and he could have cried. Every time he spoke to Dean he answered sure and fast, just like a good marine should, he called him Sir, like a good marine should, he did what he was told immediately and without question, like a good marine should. 

Only Dean wasn’t a marine.

Dean never had been a marine and never would be, he was supposed to be his father not his drill sergeant, he was supposed to have raised him, not dragged him through boot camp. 

And he didn’t have a clue how to fix it.

John was far from stupid, he knew his limitations, his weaknesses and strengths, and he knew it was going to take a lot of hard work to fix this, if he ever could. He also knew that he had to start with Dean, because Sam was as protective of him as he was of Sam, only more stubborn and would only change his attitude when Dean was happy. So he started by asking Dean what he wanted. 

"So, I haven't found anything else to hunt around here, what do you think we should do?"

He thought for a moment that his poor boy was going to pass out, it would have been hilarious in any other circumstances, but right now it just made him want to cry. He tried a slightly less open ended question.

"We could leave the area if you want, or just stay here until we find something else?"

Dean still just stared at him, not knowing what the hell to say, so he tried a different tack.

"What do you think Sam would prefer?"  
"Staying here. If we can Sir. He's not got long left of this term and his science project is almost done. If he could have a few more weeks, or a couple, if he can Sir, he'd like that. He's done real well this term so far, he'd like to get to finish it."  
"How about you? What do you want?"  
"To stay till he finishes his term Sir, if we can Sir."

Not for his self, just for Sam. John didn’t miss that, Dean still wasn’t his boy, even though Mary was gone he still didn’t have his boy, Sam did. He did his best to tamp everything down, be nice, be calm. 

"Sounds like a plan. I'll see if I can get some work around here, earn some money for a change."  
"The garage just down from here needs an engineer over twenty one."  
"Yeah?"  
"Yeah. I tried for it, but the old man knew I wasn’t old enough, just laughed at my ID. He pays me to clean up though, lets me go in when Sammy's at school. You could come down with me, if you want Sir."

Dean spoke so confidently, like he didn’t care, but John could see too much in his eyes to believe it, now that he was looking. He smiled brightly and stood up, clapping him cheerfully on the back, not missing the flinch.

"Great idea Son, when do we leave?"

The relief in Deans eyes was heartbreaking.

"About now. I thought you might need me here today so I wasn’t going to bother."  
"Well, no need to worry about me Dean, I can work around you and Sam, you’ve been here a while now, I'm sure you have your routine all sorted, I don’t want to mess that up. Maybe later you can let me have a rough idea what the routine is so I can avoid getting in the way. You've done a great job here, like you always do. I don’t think I remember to tell you that often enough."

Dean was staring at him with such a strange combination of awe, fear, concern and shy pride that he really wondered how the hell he managed to get them all in one look. 

"Come on then, I don’t wanna make you late for work, wouldn’t make a great first impression when asking for a job!"

Dean grinned back at him, but now he was looking for it, it was obvious it was forced, before grabbing his coat and leading the way to the garage. As they walked in through the front door John saw one young man working on a car and an older man who must have been in his sixties watching him carefully. 

"Not bad boy, not bad at all. You keep that up and I might just be able to retire one day."

They both laughed at that until they noticed John and Dean.

"Morning Dean, how's Sam?"  
"He's great, thanks James. His project's nearly done. Um, this is my dad, John, we're gonna be staying around for a while so he was looking for some work."  
"Really? Good to meet you John, I hear you're the one who taught Dean here how to look after a car so well?"  
"Yes Sir, if you look after them, then they'll look after you."  
"So your boy told me. You got a good one there, hard worker, polite, not afraid to get his hands dirty. Most kids now think a broom's beneath them. He's a credit to you."  
"Thank you Sir, but he's mostly a credit to his self. He raised his self and his brother so I could work."  
"Yeah, so I gathered. Well, if you're as good as Dean I could use another pair of hands for as long as you're in town."

And so John Winchester got his first honest paid job in thirteen years thanks to Dean. James made it clear, in his own subtle way, that he didn’t think much of Johns parenting, though he admired his skill as an engineer, he also showed John how he should deal with Dean, though inadvertently. John did the work he was given quickly and well, just as he had always worked, but he very carefully watched how James interacted with Dean, and it burned. James was gruff but never sharp, he always asked Dean to do things, never told him, he always thanked him for a job well done and praised him for figuring out anything new or just working particularly well, and Dean shone. Dean jumped to do anything asked of him, never slacking or trying to shirk a job, just as he did with John, but he went about it with a lightness and joy that John had never seen in him before, and he practically glowed with shy pride when he was praised, and it made John sick, he knew he could, should, have had this with his boy, but first Mary and now Sam got in his way. He would never understand it wasn’t them, he never realised he had Deans undying loyalty, never recognised that if he had just shown a little compassion, taken the time to get to know his boy as he was, not as he expected him to be, if he had just learnt to praise more than punish, Dean would have showered him with the same devotion as he did Sam. As the schools were finishing for the day James sent Dean home, with a pat on the back and a smile as he thanked him for his help, and Dean gave him a happy smile and left with a wave for John. John steamed and carried on working. 

It went downhill quicker from there.

******************

When Sam was sixteen he knew it was time, he had to claim his omega before anyone else tried to. There was no real thought behind it, it was pure instinct, Dean was his and he had to make sure everyone knew it, well, every Lycan at least.

******************

Sam had no patience with John and his bullying tactics, Dean was an omega, they had known it since his first change, just like they knew he was an Alpha. Dean was happy, safe and fulfilled when he was taking care of others, especially Sam and Dad. The problem was that while Dad was an alpha type human, he wasn’t Alpha, he didn’t know how to look after Dean, he treated him like a marine and forgot how far a little praise would go. Sam couldn’t ignore it, this blatant miss treatment of his omega, so he fought it, which only stressed Dean out more. He tried not to, he tried to keep it away from Dean when he did fight with their Dad, but Dean always knew. It couldn’t go on. Sam was too old for John to order around but too young to make his opinions count, to John anyway, and it was always taken out on Dean. So Sam and Dean talked, they considered their options, they planned. When Sam finished school he told their Dad he was going to Stanford. John didn’t take it well. They argued, worse than ever before, and eventually John told him if he left he was never to come back. It confirmed everything Sam had ever thought about John. Sam knew Dean didn’t like that he would be so far away from him, he didn’t like that he wouldn’t be there to protect Dean from Dad either, but he knew it was the best choice they had. Sam would get his degree, would get a job, then Dean would join him, it would only be four years, maybe six, he knew Dean was strong enough to cope with their Dad for that long, it ‘was’ the only safe way after all. 

They spoke most nights on the phone and Dean would join him at Stanford every time he could get away from Dad without him suspecting, but it was the first two years were hard for them both. Then Dad went missing. Dean had been in New Orleans on his own hunt and hadn't worried for the first two weeks, it was nothing new to not hear from Dad when he was busy with a hunt. At the end of the third week he was worried, and that worried Sam, so he told him to come and pick him up. Dean's relief was palpable even over the phone, and it tore Sam up to know how much his omega cared about the asshole who regularly abandoned him and couldn’t be bothered to put in the effort to treat him right. So he told Jess, his house mate and best friend, other than Dean, that Dean would be staying with them for a while. She never minded Dean staying, he was always fun and obviously adored Sam. They had never told anyone they were brothers so they didn’t have to hide that they were lovers, it just made everything so much easier. Then Jess was killed, murdered by the same son of a bitch that killed their mom, in exactly the same way, burning on the ceiling, and life got crazy again. But they survived, together, most of the time, until Dean went to Hell, and got dragged back out by an Angel. Then they got caught by the police, again!

****************

Sam smirked at the Detectives, for reasonably clever people they really were quite thick.

"We know you got away from them Sam, it took a lot of courage to escape your family the way you did, we know your brother dragged you back in but we can protect you. Just tell us what happened, how did he kill Jessica?"

Sam laughed. He couldn’t help it, Jess's death had been devastating, tragic, completely unnecessary and pointless, but to think Dean had done it? That was hilarious.

"Oh you people really should do your homework. Dean wouldn’t have hurt Jess's bunny slippers, let alone her. He has never harmed a human being in his life, and never would. You really should learn to look beyond the wrapping."  
"You don’t have to be scared of him any more Sam, we can protect you."

That was it, Sam couldn’t contain his self any longer, he damn near fell out of his chair laughing. The woman stood up, the 'sweet' and 'consoling' expression dropping off her face as she stormed out of the room, soon followed by her partner who looked more than a little put out. Sam didn’t care. It took him ages to calm down, he was still chuckling when the door opened again and an older man with black greying hair and a Van Dyke came in with a younger black man with a clean shaven head. Sam waved at them cheerily and the older man smiled back calmly.

"Hi!"  
"Hello. I'm Special Agent Rossi of the BAU, this is Special Agent Morgan. We've been asked to help on this case."  
"Really? The BAU? Wow, they got someone with a brain then. Sorry, that was rude of me. Guess Dad taught me something after all, he always said 'ignorance is no defence', guess it stuck."  
"My father used to say something similar."

*******************

Dean was sat leaning back in his chair, feet up on the table, looking asleep. The local clowns had finally got bored of him ignoring them and left twenty minutes ago. When the door opened he opened his eyes and watched the two new guys walk in. One was older, though not as old as Dad, sharply dressed in a neat suit, neat dark hair and piercing eyes, the other looked about Sammy's age and a complete geek, all too long limbs and hair and huge puppy eyes, he looked nervous and all Dean's protective instincts kicked in automatically. As they were settling at the table he whispered 'Christo' just to be safe. The older man spoke first.

"I'm Supervisory Special Agent Hotchner and this is Doctor Reid, we're with the BAU and have been called in to consult on this case."  
"Doctor? Way to go! That must have taken some work."

Dean couldn’t help it, the guy was like a Sammy puppy! Reid ducked his head shyly for a moment before looking back at Dean.

"No harder than Latin really."

Hotch was paying very careful attention to the conversation, though he was shuffling papers around as if he wasn’t. They knew from the files that the brothers were very close, that Dean was overly protective of Sam, but this gave more than just a hint that it didn’t end there, Dean had literally just met Reid and was already acting like a proud older brother, talking to him like he cared. It put a very different spin on the files, and they had only been there for a few minutes.

"Eh, Latin aint hard, Sam's the smart one, full ride at Stanford!"  
"That's not easy."  
"Nope, but he did it!"  
"It must have been hard for him moving schools so often, he must have missed a lot."

Hotch loved the way Reid could get so many people to open up just by being his self, he was so unassuming that very few people took him as a threat.

"I got the books for him. He knew them all inside out within a few weeks. I made sure he had all the books for the year, every place we went, so he never fell behind. He was a good kid, never complained if he had a book to read."  
"It couldn’t have been easy for your Dad, looking after you both?"  
"Dad was busy, I look after Sammy."

Dean had tensed at the question, getting defensive. Reid ignored it, like he hadn't noticed.

"Really? I can't imagine raising a child. I don’t have any siblings, and children don’t like me."

Reid looked down at the table shyly again when he said that, like it was a personal failing, and Hotch couldn’t miss the look of compassion that shot across Deans eyes.

"Kids are easy! You just gotta be your self. Most people try too hard and kids know, like animals, you just gotta relax. Kids don’t judge like adults, they don’t look for a hidden agenda, but they know when you're trying to fool them, acting, it never works. Sam never got it, he tries too hard, you just gotta be your self, they respect that. Except teenagers, they don’t respect anything, you just gotta hope you don’t piss em off too much."

Reid smiled at Dean and Dean lit up like Christmas.

"Thank you! I've always thought I wasn’t trying hard enough."  
"Nah man, kid's are simple, adults are the problem! You gotta figure out what their angle is and what they want, like your boss."

The look Dean threw at Hotch was calculating, and not at all impressed. Hotch almost smiled.

"All I want is to get to know you Mr Winchester."  
"Dad aint here, I'm Dean."  
"Thank you, you can call me Hotch."  
"So what do you do? You're not normal cops, you look like a fed but the Doc don’t."  
"We work for the Behavioural Analysis Unit of the FBI."  
"Profilers?"  
"Yes."  
"So, you consult for the locals? Tell em who to look for? Where the serial killer's likely to hit next? That sort of thing?"  
"Generally, yes."  
"Dude! That rocks! You're Bobby!"  
"Who?"  
"Bobby, never mind. So why are you here? The locals already tried and convicted us, so has the FBI for that matter, why bring you in now?"  
"Because there are too many inconsistencies in your file."

Dean looked slightly confused at that. Reid jumped in, deciding honesty really was the best policy with this man.

"There are several reports of you committing crimes that conflict with each other, which lends doubt to all of them. You've also been reported dead twice and your medical reports don’t match up. Your file was flagged up to us a while ago, so now we get to talk to you and find out what is really going on, because none of it makes sense."

Hotch nodded, watching Dean carefully. This was where they would get him to cooperate, or loose him altogether. Dean sighed and dropped his head for a moment before looking back up at Reid.

"The real problem here isn't that I don’t want to tell you Doc, it's that you wont believe me when I do. Hendrickson didn’t believe us until a demon bitch rode his ass and used him to kill the Sheriff. Nobody 'sane' ever believes us until some evil son of a bitch is breathing down their neck and they need us to save them, and some not even then. So there's not many choices here. Either I tell you the truth and you don’t believe me and lock us up, or you do believe I believe it and lock us in a padded room. Or I bullshit you and you lock us up anyway, either way we end up locked up. Only other option is you 'actually' believe me, then you gotta try and figure out how to get us out of here without loosing your jobs. What ever way you look at it, someone gets screwed, and it's probably gonna be us. And we haven't had our phone calls yet either, we're supposed to get a phone call each."

Reid looked at Hotch and shrugged, then handed his mobile to Dean.

"You can use mine."  
"Thanks Doc, not gonna cost you is it? I don’t know where he is."  
"It's a work phone."  
"Great."

Dean smiled at him and dialled Cas's number from memory, sighing in relief as soon as the angel answered.

"Dean."  
"Hey Cas, sorry to be a pain in your feathery ass, but we got pulled in by the cops, any chance you can pop in any time soon?"  
"Now?"  
"No, give it a bit, I'm in Interview Room 4, Sam's in 6, Clark County Sheriff's office."  
"Very well, I will be with you in ten minutes, if that is enough time?"  
"Sure Cas, and thanks, see ya then."  
"Good bye Dean."

Dean hung up and passed the phone back to Reid, well aware of the looks he was receiving from both of the other men.

"Right, well, we got ten minutes to kill, so what the hell, you'll believe me or you wont so I'll start at the beginning. When Sam was six months old, to the day, Dad heard Mom scream in the night and ran into Sammy's nursery to find her stuck to the ceiling, her stomach bleeding, then she burst into flames. Her scream woke me too, I got there in time to see my mother burn up on the ceiling. Dad gave me Sammy and told me to take care of him, keep him safe, and get out. Dad eventually followed us, and spent the rest of his life hunting the sick son of a bitch that killed her. I protected Sammy, Dad killed the monsters, that's how we lived, from one shitty motel to the next, where ever the hunt took him, killing anything he found, spirits, werewolves, banshee, rougarou, skin walkers, anything, while he tried to find that bastard. We eventually found out it was a demon, Azazel. His plan was to stick Sammy and all the other kids he had infected with his blood in this ghost town and leave them to fight it out, see, he only needed one, to lead his army. So Lillith did it for him, let them kill each other off to find the strongest. Only Sam didn’t win and I'm a selfish bastard, I can't live without him. I can exist, but I can't live, and I wont. So I made a deal with a crossroads demon, his life for my soul. Normally it's a ten year deal, you get ten years of whatever you wanted then they send the hounds to collect, only they didn’t want to wait that long, so I got a year. 

"Sammy tried to fight it but you can't see hellhounds, you can only hear them. You really can't fight what you can't see, and he was trying to fight off Lillith at the same time, so I got to play chew toy for a while. Then I got dragged down to Hell and met Alistair, he was the best Hell had, and he knows his stuff well. If they want to break you in Hell, you're gonna break, it's just a matter of how long. I managed thirty years of Alistair's undivided attention before I broke, and one day I might be able to live with that. So I broke and I started the apocalypse. A lot of people blame Sam because he's one of Azazel's kids, he's supposed to kill Lillith and break the final seal, but they forget that without 'me' the first would never have been broken, and none of it would have happened. So I got dragged out of Hell, dumped back in my coffin, brand spanking new and never so glad that Sam could get lazy with graves, because it took long enough to dig my way out as it was. I though Sam had done something stupid to get me out, turned out he was doing something monumentally stupid, just not to get me out. Comes to it, we find out God didn’t want me in Hell. Sounds conceited, I know, I thought so too, but turns out Castiel, a bona fide Angel of the Lord, was sent to drag me out of Hell, remade my body and everything, that's why the medical records don’t match up, every break, every scar, all wiped away, just a shiny new body and a shiny new hand print."

Dean slid his jacket off and pulled up the sleeve of his t-shirt, showing them Castiel's mark.

"Now Lillith is buried, that's why there have been so many disasters and shit in the last three months, the demons are trying to find her so Lucy can wear Sammy to the prom, and Michael wants me, cause I'm just that special. See, Angels need a vessel to move around on Earth, and they need your permission to use you, they can't just take you like demons, you have to say yes and invite them in. So the Angels are willing to do pretty much anything to keep me safe until the big showdown, and to get me to say yes. Which is why I'm telling you all this, because Cas will be here in a few minutes, and we'll be gone. I know you won’t believe me, and I don’t blame you, I really don’t, I wouldn’t believe me if I hadn't lived this shit, especially the Angels. But Cas is good, and he's finally learning to think for his self, which is a major thing for an angel, trust me. The others are complete douche bags, wouldn’t know decency or compassion if they smacked em round the face with a wet kipper. Decided to get me to say yes by giving Sammy cancer, when that didn’t work they took his lungs out. Because they know he's my weakness, they know I'll do anything for him. Only I know Lucifer wont let Sam die, because he needs him, and he can't use him until after he kills Lillith to unlock his cage, which isn't going to happen in this lifetime, not with what we've done to her. So they can't kill either of us."

Dean looked at his watch.

"Look, Cas has a thing about punctuality, so he will be here in a minute and forty seconds, so don’t shoot him ok? He gets this whole kicked puppy look, and it pisses me off when people shoot my friends."

He'd started nicely, almost joking, but at the end his voice was glacial and his face completely blank as he stared at Hotch. Hotch very carefully kept both hands on the table in front of him. 

Even when a man appeared right behind Dean out of nowhere.

****************

Sam grinned at the two men.

"So, I've heard you guys actually don’t lie!"  
"Generally. Personally I never lie unless I feel there is no other way, there have been occasions when it has become necessary to get information quickly enough to save lives."  
"Huh. Must be nice. We were always taught that honesty was a weakness at best and a liability most of the time. Just as dangerous as a dirty gun."  
"That must have been difficult growing up."  
"Not really, kids lie easy as breathing. A new school every month or so, I had a whole new life every school I went to, that part was fun, me and Dean would have competitions, see who could come up with the stupidest bullshit and make it stick. After he hit about thirteen I won every time, apparently I cheat by having an 'honest face'. The truth was always a lot worse than any lies."  
"How so?"  
"In so many ways."  
"Are you still a good liar Sam? Is it something you have to do often?"  
"It was much easier when we were kids, but then, it wasn’t so important we got it right then. You're trained to know these things, to figure out the truth when all you're given is lies, so why don’t you tell me? I'll give you a fair chance, I'll tell you two stories, one true, the other complete bullshit, you tell me which is true."

Rossi thought about it for a moment then nodded for Sam to continue. Sam smiled.

"Right, so Dad was away hunting, it was coming up to the end of year prom in the latest school he'd dumped us in and I knew we didn’t have the money for a new outfit for the dance but that didn’t really matter at the time, I bitched and whined until Dean got it for me. I went to the prom with Jenny Staten, and she let me hold her hand all night. Dean came and picked us up and we dropped her home before Dean took us home and gave me my first beer."

Sam looked them both right in the eye all the way through and there were very few signs but both men were pretty sure that most of that was bullshit, fiction, with just enough truth to make it flow well. They didn’t say anything, just waited. Sam smiled and started again.

"When I was nine I heard something move in my closet, typical kid stuff, terrified of being put in a room on my own for the first and last time, Dean and I had always shared before then but dad was there and insisted we separate. So I ran for Dean, only Dad got there first, heard the running and came to see what was going on, I told him there was a monster in my closet so he took me back into my room, handed me a .45 and told me to open the closet door, 'if anything moves, shoot it between the eyes, if it keeps moving run for your brother, worry about what it is later'."

Rossi and Morgan wondered once more at the depth of damage that parents could inflict on their children, intentionally or not. Rossi really hated this type of case, they all did, the ones where the Un-Sub was as much a victim as anyone else.

"So what really happened the night of the prom Sam?"

Sam grinned at knowing they had caught the lie, despite how well he had crafted it, then he sobered and told them.

"The morning of the prom I woke up to find a suit hanging on the door, Dean would never tell me how he got it and I really didn’t care. I was so excited, I was finally going to get to go to a dance. One of the happiest days I ever had, I was so excited I skipped out early, wanted to get back and get some tips from Dean, he never had any trouble getting a girl to do anything he wanted. Only when I got back to the motel Dad's truck was back, he had given Dean the Impala by then, and all our stuff was in the car. I figured it would be alright, Dean knew how much the dance meant to me so he'd fix it. Only he couldn’t. I could hear them before I even reached the door, well dad anyway, Dean never raised his voice to dad, not till a long time after that, but that was when I realised exactly why Dean was such an 'Obedient Son'. Dean just kept repeating 'Sorry Sir' but in that dead tone, you must know the one, the one where they know it wont make any difference, but they say it out of habit anyway. Yeah, that one. Dad was telling him it was his own fault, he shouldn’t push all the time, shouldn’t argue, should know better than to talk back like that. Dean never talked back to Dad, it's not in his nature, and he's not capable of pushing him, even when he should have, especially when he should have.

"Little Sammy never knew what was going on, I lived on lies, wrapped in bubble wrap, because Dean always stood between me and the monsters, he never let him near me. You ever had one of those moments when you know you will regret it for the rest of your life, but you can't 'not' look? Because you know that bad as it's going to be, your imagination is probably worse? Turns out my imagination wasn’t as good as dad's. Dean was my protector, my idol, damn near my god, only gods don’t bleed. You have his medical records, you know what his back looked like, that was the first time I found out why. Him and dad had so many scars I never questioned them, cuts, bruises, breaks, they just happened, until that day I never questioned. Thing is, dad was an amazing hunter, he knew all the best ways to kill, or maim, or just make it hurt, and he practiced on my Dean. That's also why we couldn’t run, because he could hunt anything, he caught everything he ever went after except the son of a bitch that killed Mom and Jess, we got him, Dean put a bullet through his head and sent him straight back to Hell. Dean got me safely out of it by staying, and I let him, because neither of us could find a better answer. So, needless to say, I didn’t go to the dance. I hid until I should have been home and when I went in Dean apologised. He apologised to 'me' because we had to leave. I couldn’t tell Dean I knew until recently, when I finally made him talk to me, Dean doesn’t do 'emotions' willingly! My poor brother is more fucked up in the head than I am. See they all think I can't escape Dean, they don’t realise it's the other way around. And I'm just fucked up enough to take advantage of it. We are both a mess, and we both know it, but we don’t kill humans, we never have, never will unless given no choice, but you really don’t want to try to keep us separated."

Morgan scowled at him, he knew where he was going with this but it wouldn’t hurt to push a little.

"Threats at this point?"

Sam smiled sadly.

"A warning and you know it. You obviously want me to say it, so I'll assume it's for later analysis. Dean has been to Hell, he endured thirty years of torture from the best they had before he broke. It took that long to convince him that I wouldn’t be coming for him, that he couldn’t escape, then Alistair let him off the rack and handed him the knife. Dean is imaginative if nothing else, all that righteous fury twisted in on its self and he started teaching Alistair new tricks. Nothing human can contain Dean, he will find a way out, whatever it takes, and he would find me. Nothing you have or can ever conceive could stop Dean, you would have to kill him, and a lot worse than humans have been trying for a lot of years, only thing that got close was a semi side swiping the car after Azazel used Dad's body to try it. Actually that's when we finally got rid of the two worst monsters in our lives and I realised just how messed up the human condition is. Azazel had possessed dad, drew us in and had us, only we had the Colt, it can kill almost anything, but demons are arrogant, they like to play, like the bad Bond villains, they explain their dastardly plans for just long enough to let the good guy kill them. Only, even after everything he had done to Dean, I still couldn’t do it, I couldn’t look my father in the eye and shoot him. Azazel thought that was hilarious, taunting me, telling me about everything dad had ever done to Dean, and I still couldn’t do it.

"But he forgot about Dean. He thought he was too weak and damaged to move, let alone be a threat after the beating he had given him, so he ignored him, and started hurting me. Dean has put up with a hell of a lot more than just a beating to save me from pain. Azazel never saw it coming, he went out with a bullet between the eyes, because Dean wont let anyone hurt me. John Winchester beat him, and worse, repeatedly, and he never said a thing, never raised a hand in his own defence, but he put a bullet between his eyes when Azazel used his body to hit me, and didn’t bat an eyelid. We thought that would be it but his plans were more important to Hell than we realised, and Lillith took over. We didn’t realise until after Dean came back from forty years in Hell what it had all been leading up to, but they needed a 'Righteous Man' to shed blood in Hell to break the first seal on Lucifer's cage, and they wanted me to kill Lillith to break the last one. We buried her in consecrated concrete instead, she can live forever, and Lucifer will never get out. So you carry on and do what you want, I wont fight, it would be a nice break, but be prepared for anything if you try to keep Dean away from me, because it wont end well for you. Oh, and if someone does manage to take him out, Heaven already resurrected him once, sent a troop of Angels to fight their way through Hell for him, because they still need him alive, I wouldn’t bank on him staying dead."

The problem was, Rossi and Morgan knew he believed every word, and they really didn’t know where to go from there. Then Sam threw another curve ball.

"And just to clarify, we didn’t kill those people, we killed the werewolf that did."

****************

"Hey Cas."  
"Dean."   
"Manners Cas, introduce your self."

Cas looked down at Dean, who had tipped his head right back to look up at him, and tilted his head in confusion.

"You told me I was not to."  
"Yeah, well, these guys just saw you pop into the room from nowhere, so you can go ahead this time."  
"Very well. I wish you could make a decision and stick to it. I am Castiel, I am the Angel of Thursday."  
"It sounded much more impressive the first time I met him, in his vessel, and he said 'I am an Angel of the Lord, I am the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.' It made an impact."

Hotch finally got his voice working again.

"Angel?"  
"Of the Lord!"  
"Dean. You asked me to come here."  
"Yeah, thanks dude, just gotta grab Sammy."

Hotch shook his head and gathered his wits, pushing the impossibility of this whole situation aside for a moment and turned back to Dean.

"Dean, we can't stop you leaving, but if you disappear again, we can't fix this file."  
"Aaron Hotchner, you are a good man, despite your father, you are more like Dean than you know. You both try to right the wrongs of the world, in your own ways. Dean can not use mans law, only Gods, but he has never strayed any further than you, or your team, from your laws without great need."

Hotch was not overly pleased with the familiar way Castiel spoke, with how much he seemed to know about his life, but he couldn’t argue with him, he knew that not only was he right on a lot of it, but he also completely believed every word he said. Then Castiel turned to look at Reid and almost smiled.

"Your mother is proud of you Spencer Reid, you are a good son, and have never been anything less. You are a good man, and stronger than that which defiled your body. Have faith in your self, and have faith in your team, because they will always be there when you need them, and you will beat it, though the road will be hard. Dean, we should leave."  
"K Cas. If we pop in on Sam, are your people gonna start shooting?"

Hotch shared a look with Reid for a moment.

"It would be a lot easier if we walked in the door."  
"Seriously? Dude, you are way ahead of the curve! Nothing even tried to kill you yet!"  
"A man just appeared out of nowhere in the middle of an interview room, in a police station, in front of my eyes. I may not believe everything you told us but you obviously do, and science can't explain someone appearing like that. We follow evidence, but we have to use our imagination and experience to guide us. Something out of the ordinary is going on here, and my ordinary includes a lot. And your friend knows a lot that he shouldn’t be able to. I may not be willing to take a leap of faith, but I will take a step, and I wont risk my people getting hurt."

Dean nodded at that and Hotch could see the respect in his eyes, so he stood up and lead them out the door to Interview room 6 and knocked.

****************

Sam just watched the other two men calmly after dropping that bombshell, and waited. He didn’t have to wait long, Rossi was watching him carefully but Morgan jumped right in.

"So, how do you kill a werewolf?"

Sam grinned, he could read people too, and he knew disbelief when he heard it, but at least he was trying.

"Silver, bullets are easiest, you don’t have to get so close, but anything silver will work, or decapitation, that works on a lot of things. The problem is tracking them down in the first place, because most of the time they are normal human appearing people, but on the full moon they become beasts, no thought or comprehension, just instinct and anger, that's all they are, not like Lycans who just change their shape. The worst part is when they don’t know. We met a girl, Madison, when she realised what she was she asked me to kill her, she didn’t want to hurt anyone else, she'd already killed four people and couldn’t live with it. It's almost impossible to cage a werewolf, and we're never in one place for long enough to have helped her and she wouldn’t tell or trust anyone else to keep her, and everyone else, safe. So I ended it for her. Spirits are easier, you just dig up the bones then salt and burn them generally."

Morgan was about to ask another question when there was a knock on the door. It was highly unusual for anyone to interrupt an interview so Morgan stood up and opened the door. To find Hotch, Reid, the other Winchester brother and a strange new guy in a trench coat.

"Hotch?"  
"Morgan, I think we all need to talk."

Sam stood up as soon as the door opened and saw Dean and Cas, Cas looked a mix of confused and slightly bored as usual but Dean was agitated. Dean held his self still while the two men talked for a moment but he couldn’t manage it for long and soon barged past them into the room, shoving everyone out of his way to get to Sam. Sam grabbed him hard and pulled him in tight, Dean burying his head in his shoulder as he gripped his jacket.

"You k Sammy?"  
"I'm fine. It's all good Dean, it's all good."

Rossi watched the brothers carefully as they whispered to each other, and really couldn’t help but think these two didn’t deserve punishment, they needed help.

"Douche bags said they'd send us to separate prisons, wouldn’t have left you alone Sammy."  
"I know Dean, I know, don’t worry, I'm here. Cas will get us out of here soon, we can go rest."

Rossi couldn't help wondering how they worked their relationship around the religious theme that all their delusions seemed to be based around, how they reconciled one with the other, then the new guy in the trench coat turned to look at him, considering.

"The Bible is the word of God, Michael Rossi, but was written by the hands of men. This should be self evident when one considers the inconsistencies from one version to the next. The interpretations of Sodom and Gomorra alone prove how fallible is the hand of man. My Father cleansed the cities because the people were foul, they murdered, raped, stole, they broke every law of man and every commandment of my Father and revelled in their debasement. They were as evil as any humans so far to have lived on this planet. That is why they were punished. God does not care who you lay with, be it man, woman or brother, my Fathers only concern is in consent and the capacity to do so freely. He gave you free will for a reason, and he revels when you embrace that gift. Sam and Dean have had only each other for most of their lives, how they choose to express that most profound bond can only ever be good. And no, I can not read your mind, only your surface thoughts, and your soul."

Dean had obviously settled by then, reassured that Sam was ok and they could leave whenever they wanted, and he chuckled while everyone else looked a little uncomfortable at such personal sharing and how it was done.

"Takes a bit of getting used to. Just don’t think 'God', meant or not it's praying, and the angels hear it even if the big guy don’t pay no attention."  
"Dean."  
"What?"

It was plain to everyone that Dean knew exactly what Castiel was reprimanding him for, but nobody bothered to push it.

"Gentlemen, if you would care to take a seat so I can explain."

Sam sat back in his seat when Hotch spoke, and Dean watched while Morgan leant against the wall and Hotch sat down next to Rossi while Reid stood by the door clutching his satchel and looking uncomfortable. Dean frowned and moved the last chair round to the other side of the table next to Hotch.

"Here ya go Doc."

Then he moved back and stood next to Sam, leaning his hip into his brother in a subtle, yet obvious to the profilers, bid for comfort. It was plain to all four of them that, despite Deans bravado, Sam was the emotionally stronger of the two. If they were in fact serial killers, though they were all doubting that, Sam was obviously in charge, the alpha personality, and Dean would follow his lead anywhere, and do anything for him. Reid smiled shyly at Dean and sat in the chair while Hotch and Rossi shared a look. Hotch had already witnessed the protective behaviour but Rossi was as surprised as he ever got. He had expected this behaviour towards Sam, not anyone else, to see it directed at Reid was definitely telling. This case just kept getting more interesting. Morgan had also seen, and as always was willing to push, just a little.

"Reid, get coffee."  
"Why don’t you get it your self."

Dean pushed off of Sam to stand straight as he growled at him, arms falling down loose at his sides, not overly aggressive, just ready for anything, his stance not that of a prize fighter, but a veteran soldier. Morgan smiled kindly.

"Yep, that's what I thought. Is there anyone you wouldn’t protect Mr Winchester?"  
"He still aint here, it's Dean."  
"Sorry Dean, you can call me Derek. Don’t worry, if I tried that attitude on Spence for real he'd kick my ass, and the others would help. Sometimes I just can't resist pushing buttons."  
"Sometimes I just can't resist punching faces."  
"Dean. Derek Morgan is a good man."  
"Well he shouldn’t act like a douche then."

Sam put his hand out and rested it against the small of Deans back. Dean immediately relaxed and leant into it. Sam leant forward and looked at the file still in front of Rossi.

"Can I have a look at that please?"

Rossi raised an eyebrow but pushed it over. It went against all convention to do so but this whole situation was far from conventional. Sam started reading through it, Dean looked down at him for a moment then sighed.

"Anyone got a marker? Geek boy wants to correct your work."  
"Here, I have one."  
"Thanks Doc."

Dean smiled openly at Reid and took the highlighter and pen he offered, giving them to Sam. Sam took the lid off the highlighter with his teeth and Dean took it out of his mouth without even looking, Sam grunted his thanks and started marking the pages, writing comments in the margins and crossing out bits as he went. Dean ignored him, just leant back into his side and watched the others after a quick glance at Cas to check he was ok. None of the profilers missed any of it, not even when he regularly checked Reid to make sure he was ok too, the hyper vigilance, or the wary glances he threw at the others. Hotch gave them a minute then started talking. 

"While we were conducting our interview with Dean he told us about going to Hell, and being pulled out by an Angel, then Castiel arrived, he just appeared behind Dean's chair."

Morgan and Rossi both looked sceptical, to say the least. Dean sighed and turned to Cas.

"Hey, could you grab us some drinks please?"  
"I am not your waitress Dean."  
"But you'd look so good in the outfit!"  
"What do you want Dean?"  
"Coffee all round would be appreciated, thanks."

Cas sighed at Dean's grin but disappeared. 

"What the…"

Before Morgan could finish the question Cas re-appeared with a tray of coffee and calmly handed them out to everyone. Dean smirked.

"Angel. Of the Lord. With wings!"

Sam snorted and slapped Dean's thigh while Cas looked confused and Reid grinned, trying not to laugh. Morgan automatically thanked Cas as he handed him a cup and sniffed it cautiously, it was just as he liked it and smelt wonderful, then he took notice of the cup its self.

"You can't buy Costa Coffee in America."

Cas looked at him blankly with his head tilted to the side, almost like he was examining a child's science project, it was disconcerting.

"Dean prefers it."  
"He's asking where ya got it Cas."  
"Bristol, London is too busy this time of day."

Morgan just stared at him while Dean laughed.

"Damn! Tell me I never got that look!"  
"Of course you did Dean, we all did, sometimes still do, Angels are weird."

Sam spoke without looking up from the file he was still correcting, chuckling at something he had read. Dean shook his head then looked at Hotch.

"You got all that earlier on film right? We don’t need to go over it again?"  
"No, we have everything from both interviews, including now."  
"Good. We've tried this before but nobody ever listened until it was too late. Kinda nice to be honest."  
"You don’t get listened to very often do you Dean?"

Rossi asked quietly. Sam looked up at that and thought it was a good thing Dean had been with Hotch and Reid before, because he was very susceptible to older men with a kind, understanding tone and believing eyes when he was stressed. Dean just shrugged and pulled into his self so Sam put his pen down and dropped his arm, resting his hand on Deans leg and squeezing reassuringly, even as Cas stepped forward to Deans other side protectively. 

"Spencer has a similar problem, that's why we always introduce him as 'Doctor' not Special Agent, it cuts down on the condescending looks and disbelief. People find it strange that such a young man can hold a position of such authority, by pointing out that he has a doctorate or two, they accept it easier, though many still find his intelligence intimidating. It's not easy being ignored at any time, but especially when you are trying to help others."

Dean looked up at Rossi as he spoke, and it was easy to see the young man that had suffered so much to protect his brother. Rossi was very much a 'see it to believe it' kind of man, so Dean's little demonstration with Castiel couldn’t be ignored, not by anyone who lived by truth rather than their own comfort. It put a very different spin on everything to do with the brothers. He refused to think of the greater implications just yet, they had a case to sort through first, and even he shied away from thinking about the young man in front of him spending forty years in Hell. 

"Yeah, it sucks."

Concise and to the point. Rossi smiled at him and got a small one back. Sam was happy the 'danger zone' was past so he went back to finishing the report, it didn’t take him long while he listened to the others talk. 

"Sam said earlier that Werewolves were beasts, not like Lycans, what is a Lycan?"

Dean looked down at Sam at Reid's question but Sam just grunted and carried on finishing the report, so Dean shrugged and answered for him.

"Lycans are a race, werewolves are a disease."  
"How so? Sorry, I know I ask a lot of questions, ignore me."  
"Hey, no! You don’t learn unless you ask Doc, you wouldn’t be where you are if you didn’t question everything, and you wouldn’t be much good at your job, would you? Ya gotta keep asking, never be afraid to ask, never let anyone hold you back like that, you gotta be you, or you just die inside."

Dean paused for just a moment and everyone in the BAU team could read the pain of past experience in his eyes.

"Lycans are born, it's a genetic ability to change their shape, no different than any other human, just with a quirk, like eye colour, only it always breeds true. If your mom was a Lycan you will be, despite your dad's genes, and your kids will be too, no matter their dame. Werewolves are made, it's a disease passed on when they bite someone, like those stupid zombie movies, Resident Evil, just a disease, a sickness to be eradicated for the sake of everything else, you can't help a werewolf, best you can do is kill 'em, for their sake, same as vampires, only they turn you by feeding you their blood, you get some of that in your mouth you shoot yourself in the head before it sets in or hope you have a good friend who'll take your head before you kill anyone."

Sam had finished reading while Dean talked and couldn’t help noticing that he was being a lot more open than he generally was with anyone but him, and possibly Cas and Bobby. Dean was speaking directly to Reid but all of the profilers were listening very carefully, and picking up more that Dean would like if the looks passing between them were anything to go by. Reid smiled at Dean, it was a curious and sympathetic smile and Sam knew Dean would be lost, he decided to let it go on, if all else failed Cas would deal with the fall out, and Dean really needed a chance to talk to someone who could listen without calling for the men in the white coats.

"When did you know you were a Lycan Dean? You couldn’t have been much over four, because your mother told you, didn’t she? But she never told your dad, so you could never trust him could you? Especially not with Sam, he saw everything in black and white didn’t he? No in between. Human is good, anything else is evil, wasn’t it? It must have been so hard keeping it from him, but Sam was more important, he always will be, he's your Alpha isn't he? Is that how it works with Lycans?"  
"Yeah, it is, and Dean is my omega, has been since I came of age."  
"What age was that Sam?"  
"Twelve, that's when your body is old enough to change. And you find out your dynamic. I'm Alpha, Dean is my omega, we haven't met any beta's yet."  
"In wolf packs, and please don’t think I'm comparing you to animals in any derogatory way, beta's are the general, fighting force. There is an Alpha pair, the beta's, and omegas are the stay-at-home-mom sort. I would have pegged Dean as a beta."

Dean was staring at the ground now, hands shoved in his pockets and practically plastered to Sam's side. Sam frowned but answered Rossi anyway.

"He's not criticizing sweetheart, he's just asking, he needs answers just like the doc. Lycans are not wolves, we sometimes live in family packs but you are born to your dynamic. Dean is a protector, a defender and very nurturing. If we had pups Dean would look after them, because that's what he does best, protect and nurture, he raised me, weird as that probably seems to you, but he's my omega, that's the way we are. Don’t suppose it helped that we were kept separate from others as kids, we lived with Pastor Jim for a while, but that didn’t end so well. Just reinforced that we couldn’t trust anyone else, so we stuck with each other, Dean learnt to fight so he could teach me and protect the pack, everyone protects the pack, no matter their dynamic. The miracle is that Dean managed to grow up between me and dad and not loose it completely. Dad thought he was in charge but from the age of twelve it was my place to lead the pack, I was the only Alpha, it was my right and he should have stepped aside, or preferably just fucked off and left us alone, but he never learnt. Then the bastard got caught out and made Dean shoot him."

Dean had had enough at that point and whined deep in his throat, dropping to his knees between Sam's feet and curling into him, practically hiding under the table and rubbing his face into Sam's thigh for comfort. Sam realised what he was doing to his omega and swore long and loud in between apologies, curling over to protect his omega.

"Fuck! I'm sorry sweetheart, I'm so sorry, it's over, I didn’t mean to say anything, I'm so sorry baby. Shit, fuck! Dean, baby, listen to me sweetheart, listen to me baby, you're safe, it's safe baby, you did good, you're such a good boy, my good boy, so good for me sweetheart, come on baby, breath for me, my good boy, come on baby boy, come back to me, I'm so sorry, come back to me baby boy."

Dean was shaking, the day had been extremely stressful, not to mention the rest of his life, and he had just had enough. First they threaten to take Sammy away from him, then they bring in these guys, then the relief of Cas arriving and getting back to Sam and all the questions and too knowing looks off the agents and now this! And he still refused to cry. 

Cas sighed deeply, a habit he had picked up from Sam, and leant forward to rest his hand on Dean's back, sending him into a deep and dreamless sleep.

"You know better than to talk of that Samuel. It will take weeks to truly settle him again. You know better."  
"God, I'm so sorry, I just get so mad! I can't believe I said that! So stupid!"  
"You are far from it, as you well know, you just lack thought when you get angry, like so many humans. Now you have to decide how you will take his mind off it once he wakes."  
"Shit."  
"Indeed."  
"Have you tried counselling?"

They both looked at Hotch like he was a complete imbecile.

"Really? And how do you see that conversation going, Supervisory Special Agent Hotchner? Hi my names Sam, this is my brother Dean and he spent 40 years in Hell, after dad abused him for most of our childhood, and we fight the monster under the bed, and oh by the way, we can change into wolves! Yeah, they'd have us drugged in a little padded room before they laughed their selves silly. Then Dean would probably end up hurting someone to get to me and feel guilty about that too, great idea, genius."  
"Sam, there is no reason to be insulting just because you feel guilty for upsetting Dean."  
"Sorry, but seriously?"  
"There must be others out there that know what you do?"  
"Yeah, and they all think I'm about to start the Apocalypse! Most of the hunters that know of us basically consider me the anti-Christ, and think Dean should be dead for protecting me instead of killing me his self, and god help us if they ever find out we're Lycans. This is the most honest conversation we've had with anyone but Bobby, ever! Not even he knows we're Lycan! We couldn’t talk to dad when he was around, 'Saint John' would have killed us both without hesitation if he'd known what we are, he told Dean he had to save me from myself or kill me, right before he was possessed by Azazel and Dean had to kill them both. And don’t think I've missed the looks every time we mention killing, and I understand it, I really do, you live in a world of humans, human laws and human killers and human victims. We don’t kill humans, we kill what's killing the humans, and sometimes we can't save everyone, and sometimes the only way to stop them is through the human they are possessing, and that sucks, it really does, it tears Dean up, don’t get me wrong, it bothers me, but it really tears Dean up, dad was a complete bastard and managed to beat it into him that he should save 'everyone'! I know you understand that just isn't possible, with the job you do, you've lost plenty, but you guys get trained to deal with it, and it was your choice, you chose this career, for whatever reason. Dean had no choice. Neither of us did, but I'm Alpha, it's part of who I am to lead and protect my pack, to fight for them, to make the difficult decisions, constantly, even beta's can't do that, they follow orders, they fight, but under direction, they aren't leaders, it's just not in them. They wouldn’t survive it, not mentally, and Dean really can't. He should never have been put in this position, he should be raising pups, keeping the den, teaching, nurturing, defending, not attacking constantly."  
"He seems to be doing reasonably well, the signs are there, he obviously has PTSD, but he hides it well, most people wouldn’t notice."

Sam smiled at Morgan for that.

"Yeah, my baby's strong, I doubt you'll find another omega that could take it."  
"Your strength, together, is amazing, you should be proud of your selves."  
"I appreciate the sentiment Special Agent Rossi, but I'm not Dean, I don’t need a pep talk, the 'empathy' just annoys me, because you don’t know, and you don’t understand, so save it for Dean, he needs the validation."

Rossi looked Sam in the eye for a long while, gauging just how true that statement was, and finally decided it was true, as far as it went, Sam was perfectly stable and happy with his lot in life right now, his only true problem at the moment was Dean being unhappy.

"Understood. I may not be Lycan, but I am a leader, and I may not understand 'pack' but I know 'team', Hotch and I lead this team, and we see the worst of humanity on a daily basis, we know what it's like to be responsible for others, however capable they are, and what it's like to loose them, so don’t dismiss others just because they don’t fall neatly into your version of 'pack'."

Sam nodded considering that, it was a swift kick in the complacency he had needed, and he was man enough to admit it.

"My apologies. That was short sighted of me."  
"Just young, you may be Alpha, but you're still a kid. If you'd grown up with a pack you wouldn’t have been in charge, would you? You would have had an Alpha to learn from before you were expected to behave like one. The only example you had was what not to do, so you avoided a lot of pit-falls, but you found a lot of others. I think anyone would say you've done a good job so far, just don’t get cocky, because that's when you turn into your father, and we both know you can't afford to do that." 

Sam shuddered at the thought, no, he really couldn’t afford that, it would kill Dean.

"So take it from someone with more experience, the first thing you have to learn is how to control your self. You obviously knew that talking about your father's death would affect Dean badly, yet you did it anyway, in what has to be an exceptionally stressful situation for him. If I did something like that Hotch would have my ass, and I would do the same for him, and if it continued to happen, we would be removed, for the good of the team. You don’t have anyone to balance you, so you have to be so much more careful to balance your self, to make sure you keep your self in check, because you are the only one protecting Dean from 'you'."

Sam couldn’t help looking down at his brother, Dean was always so strong, always put on the cocky act in front of others, and he had just reduced him to this in public because he couldn’t watch what he was saying. He considered how much worse it would have been if Cas hadn't been there, Dean would have had to deal with his blunder and knowing he was being watched by strangers, which would have just made it a hundred times worse, he would never have calmed down, would have probably ended up having a panic attack and passing out like he had the first time Bobby saw him lose it. Once he had woken up Dean didn’t speak for almost a month, he couldn’t even walk into the same room as Bobby let alone look at him. The worst part had been the fear in his eyes though, a fear Sam remembered seeing all to often when they were younger, every time he had argued with their dad or a hunt had gone wrong, when Dean would stop talking and dad would disappear on a long hunt alone. It had happened less often the older they got, but it never went away, he fully expected it to happen now just like it had after Dean had killed Azazel and when he came back from Hell, only this time he had no one to blame but his self.

Hotch and Rossi shared a look as Sam got lost in thought, it was easy to see the emotions fly across his face, especially the guilt as exactly what he had done really sank in. They left him to it for a long moment before Hotch spoke.

"The second thing you really need to learn is forgiveness. You have to be able to forgive others when they mess up, but more importantly you have to be able to forgive your self, because trust me, beating your self up only stops you fixing the problem. We all mess up, everyone, doesn’t matter who you are or how good you think you are, you will mess up, and if you spend all your energy going over your mistake and blaming your self for everything you wont have enough to help your team. Yes, you have to consider what you did wrong and how you could have done it better, you have to learn from your mistakes, but then you have to let it go and move on, you have to put your self behind your team, not before them, they always have to come first, even when they don’t realise it, and especially when they don’t think they deserve it."

Rossi nodded along as Hotch spoke, completely agreeing with him.

"But the hardest thing you will have to learn, is that 'superior' doesn’t mean 'better'. Everyone has a part to play in any hierarchy, if you were supposed to do everything you wouldn’t have a team, or a pack, you have to remember that, and let everyone fulfil their potential and do their job, or you wont 'have' a team for very long."

Sam looked up at that, the fear plain in his eyes at the thought of loosing Dean. Hotch felt for the kid, he was way too young for all this, and from what they had said he had been trying to be in charge since he was 12, much too young to understand the effect he had had on his brother. He could see, and knew his team could too, that Sam had tried, had done his best to take on the mantle of Alpha, and Dean had done his best to follow him, had followed the dictates of his nature and done as he was told, only he was being told by his father and Sam, his father had been seriously emotionally compromised by his wife's death if nothing else, and Sam just hadn't had a clue what he should have been doing. Even if they ignored the sexual element of the relationship, it was still dangerously co-dependent at the very best. To be honest he had met better adjusted serial killers, and that could not be a good thing. What he would really like to see is the two of them in a proper psychiatric facility where they could get the help they so desperately needed, unfortunately Sam had been right when he assumed the response of any medical professional to their life story, and that kind of 'help' wouldn’t be, was in fact the opposite of what they needed. He didn’t know anyone in the profession well enough to recommend the boys tell them everything, even with Castiel along as proof. At that point Hotch made a decision. He looked at his team one by one until he knew he had their full attention, then he spoke.

"I trust every one of you with my life, I trust you with Jack, you have all proven countless times that you trust me, so right now, I am asking you to show that trust and leave."

They all went to speak but Derek got there first.

"Hotch, how can you even think we'd let you shoulder that alone?"

Hotch actually smiled at Derek as Sam looked confused. Then Rossi filled him in.

"Hotch wants us to leave so he will be the only one in trouble when you 'escape', though we do all trust him to do the right thing here, we wont leave him out to dry because our Section Chief wants his head as it is."

Sam nodded at that and thought for a moment.

"We don’t have to escape from here, they'll want to move us soon, Cas can get us then, none of you have to take the rap for it."

Hotch frowned again as he looked around the room, then sighed.

"That is appreciated Sam, only I don’t plan to let you escape, I'm going to walk you out the front door."

Every one but Castiel stared at him in stunned silence. He took it in for a while, appreciating how well he had shocked his team before he continued.

"If you escape again this all continues the same as it always has, you being vilified and chased across the country while you fight to save as many people as you can, breaking the law in new and varied ways as well as the old ones. I don’t see that as a viable option. I was a criminal defence attorney long before I joined the BAU, you deserve the right to defend your selves, you deserve the right to do your job without being harassed and left no choice but to break the law in order to feed your selves. I am aware this will never see open court, I know you can't and wont sit around in a cell waiting for the legal system to get around to sorting this out. I can."  
"Why? Why would you do that? This isn't only your career, you could go to jail for this, for a long time."

Everyone looked down at the table where Dean had spoken quietly from Sam's lap, none of them had expected him to wake up so soon, but Cas had decided he needed to know exactly what these people were willing to do for them, because he really did need the validation.

"Like I said, I was an attorney, I know exactly what I'm doing, which is why the rest of you are going to leave while this is still legal."  
"We left legal behind ten minutes ago, besides, you know better than me but wouldn’t your case be stronger if we were all in it from the start? Strauss will have a hard time explaining loosing the entire BAU, and it will be easier in the long term for everyone to stick together."  
"But not everyone can afford to, which is why you should all leave."

The team all looked at each other for a moment, they all knew what Hotch meant, Rossi had plenty of money and Derek could fall back on his properties, Hotch had more than enough to retire if he wanted to, but as far as they knew Spencer was a different matter. Spencer grinned at the others. 

"They banned me from Vegas for a reason, how do you think I paid for mom's place? It's all declared to the Bureau, I don’t really use it, my salary covers everything I need, but it's there, and I can probably get a job quicker than any of you, I get a couple of offers a week."

The others stared at him for a moment before Derek grinned.

"Way to go Spence! So when do you wanna do this Hotch?"  
"We'll have to wait for Dean to feel up to it."

Sam looked back down at Dean and ran his fingers through his hair gently. 

"Can we have a while? Once the adrenalin has worn off Dean probably wont talk for a while, he generally doesn’t after he's been stressed badly."  
"That's not a problem, I don’t want either of you to talk."  
"Plenty of people get embarrassed after an emotional episode, though he shouldn’t, he's only human, he's allowed to have an off day."  
"Try telling him that. And it's not just embarrassment, he's done it as long as I can remember, whenever he gets emotional he goes silent, Bobby said it was a couple of years before he spoke after mom died, and then only to me for a few years after that. He didn’t speak for weeks after dad dropped us off with Pastor Jim, and months after he had to stop that tutor and we left."

Rossi looked at the file Sam had been correcting.

"When you were four."

Sam nodded grimly.

"Yeah, dad put us in the car that night and that was the last we heard of it, or Dean for months, he was ok at the time, gave his report to dad when he arrived, but once he'd slept that was it, it usually is."  
"He has to be strong for you when there's trouble, keeps it all down and ignores it, but as soon as the danger is over and he has time to relax, it comes out. It's not uncommon. It sounds like he has selective mutism."  
"He does."

Everyone turned to look at Castiel as his voice rumbled through the room, reminding them he was there. Sam frowned.

"So why didn’t you fix it when you re-made him?"  
"Because it is not a fault to be 'fixed'. It is a part of who Dean is, to take that away would be to change a great part of the man."  
"Then why did you fix his scars?"  
"His scars were not a part of him Sam, they were things that happened 'too' him, they were not integral. Dean would not be the man he is were it not for all parts of him, good and bad. What other parts of your brother would you have had me 'fix'? Many unenlightened consider homosexuality to be a fault, and would he not be safer if he were no longer Lycan, or more specifically, an omega?"

Sam growled deep in his chest, baring his teeth in an obvious threat, Castiel just nodded.

"Nor would I, for to change one part of the man is to loose the whole."

Sam eventually got it and calmed down, petting Dean's hair as he nodded slightly, still not happy with Castiel's examples, but understanding at least.

"Ok, I get your point. So what do we do once we leave here?"  
"You carry on like you were, with a few changes. You will have to stop impersonating Federal Officers, and the credit card fraud, don’t, I will lend you some money and you can pay me back once this is all sorted out. We'll leave here and go to the bank in town, I'll get your loan out while you two go with the others and buy a dozen burner phones, we'll have one each and I'll put one safe, every time you start a case I want you to call that number and leave a message, telling us where you are going, on what evidence and what you think it is, I want regular reports, daily if you can, on each case, then a final report telling us exactly what happened, who was involved and how it ended as soon as you can after you are done. Yes, I want you to behave like real Federal Agents, you act the part often enough. I think we would all appreciate it if you could call at least one of the other phones each day, just to let us know you are safe, and to be honest, a steady trail of proof of where you were and when wouldn’t hurt our case. As soon as we are pulled in for review over this, I will explain everything that has happened, we will make several copies of the surveillance tapes from today, and we will convince somebody that this is real. You will be called, eventually, to answer for the crimes you have committed, but those are relatively minor all things considered, and if seen as 'in the line of duty', especially with a military slant as per your upbringing, I'm pretty sure it wont amount to much. Then we can go from there. Unfortunately I can't help thinking of the X-Files." 

Everyone grinned at that. Dean decided that if he ever wanted to look any of these people in the eye again, and he wanted to because liked them, and they wanted to help in a useful and long term way, he would have to man up and get on with it, so he took a few deep breathes, until he could do so without shuddering, and pushed away from Sam. Sam frowned for a moment, then realised what Dean was doing and smiled at him. Dean stood up and though he had his head down and eyes closed, he knew everyone was looking at him, and he hated it with such passion he wanted to scream and cry and curl up and die just to get away from it, but he bulled his way through it as he always did, hiding it all under years of layers of protecting Sam, of doing what was best for the Pack. He took another deep breath and stood up straight, shoulders back and chin up proudly, just like his dad would have expected, and he spoke.

"You, you need proof, right?"

He didn’t wait for a response, he shifted. There was a hazy shimmer as they watched his form shrink, then they looked in awe at the wolf stood before them. He was beautiful, though far too skinny to be truly healthy, but his coat shone and his bright green eyes glinted as he watched them, leaning into Sam's leg for comfort. Sam dropped his hand down and scratched behind his ears until his tongue lolled out and his eyes closed, his tail swishing lightly in his pleasure.

"Holy shit!"

Everyone turned to stare at Hotch in shock as he spoke. Then Rossi chuckled at him.

"That about covers it, yeah. Right, shall we get on with this? Morgan, Spencer, if you could get those security disks for us please? See if you can make a few copies, go straight there and send a copy to Garcia immediately, from what I understand it takes time to alter digital recordings, so if we have a copy sent to Garcia and copies on disk that all show the same thing nobody can say we fiddled anything can they?"  
"It will certainly help."  
"Right, Hotch and I will take the boys into town, we'll go inside while the boys stay outside in full view, we'll get their loan for them, alone, so nobody can imply duress, then go back to them and find some phones. Once you're done you can get their car out of lockup and meet us by our hotel. When the others try to stop us, tell them we'll explain later."  
"JJ and Emily are going to be really mad at us for not calling them in earlier."  
"Yes, but it can't be helped, they're both busy as far as I know, and they haven't called in so we can't do anything about it now."

Hotch checked his watch.

"This interview is over as of 13:47 by my watch."

Everyone checked their watches and agreed, they always kept them synced to save problems in the field, so he stood and looked at Dean.

"If you could please Dean."

Dean shifted back to his skin and shook his self out. Hotch opened the door and walked out of the room, Rossi waved Sam, Dean and Cas after him and then followed, nodding to Derek and Spencer. Derek and Spencer headed straight to the security room where they sent and made copies as they had been asked, Hotch walked straight through the building, ignoring everyone and walked straight out the front door, still slightly amazed at how much you could get away with if you looked the part and acted like you had every right. Rossi fielded the few looks they received with a silent shake of the head, and every one there backed off, letting them walk two prisoners and a man nobody had seen enter the building straight out onto the street. Hotch didn’t slow down until he got to their car, and they were soon on their way to the town proper, exactly as he had said.

An hour later they all met up outside a café where Dean inspected every inch of his Baby, glaring daggers at Derek, who had driven her, until he was sure she was in perfect condition. Only then would he allow Sam to drag him into the café to actually eat. The BAU men were having a field day profiling the boys and trying to figure out Cas, thinking their selves lucky they now knew the truth and weren't trying to make the Angel fit into any human sized box, because he really didn't. Once they had ordered Rossi pulled a pack of Jiffy envelopes, stamps and 'Fragile, Do Not Bend' stickers out of his bag and started writing addresses, and placing stickers, on all of them, then he asked for the disks. Reid handed him a tall stack of disks in clear hard cases, clearly labelled 'Winchester Interviews' with the date and times. He grinned, handing two each to Hotch, Reid and Derek, then filled each of his envelopes before sealing them. He looked at the pile of disks left over, put two in his own bag and passed the rest to Sam. Sam stuck one in his pocket and handed the rest to Cas.

"Can you put these somewhere safe please?"

Cas raised an eyebrow and put them in his pocket as the waitress bought their food over. Rossi smiled at her politely, she was not a young woman and wouldn’t respond well to idle flirting, but would appreciate polite honesty.

"Sorry to bother you miss, but could you possibly post a few envelopes for me please? I have to get them off quick but we have to be on the road as soon as we finish eating and I have no idea where the nearest post box is."

She looked at the group of them, how tired they all looked and decided it wouldn’t hurt as she passed a box on her way home.

"Sure thing hon. All of them?"  
"No, only these two, the rest aren't important. Thank you for your help."  
"No problem, let me know if you need more coffee."

She walked away with the two envelopes and Dean grinned , figuring out what Rossi was doing before his brother did going by the frown of concentration on his face as he tried to work it through. Hotch nodded his approval, it was a good idea to post the envelopes from different places, just in case, they had no idea how much opposition they would come up against while trying to clear the boys, so a healthy paranoia couldn’t hurt. 

They quickly ate their meals and left quietly, leaving a huge tip for their waitress. They stood between their cars for a moment, looking at each other, before Dean spoke.

"Thanks. You're good guys for feds."  
"Dean. Thank you, for everything, even if it doesn’t work out, and if you need help, just call Cas, he'll hear you, not many call him by name, we'll be there as soon as we can, just let him know how urgent it is."

Hotch looked to Cas to make sure that was ok and Cas nodded, he was happy to help anyone trying to help Dean. Hotch watched as Dean couldn’t stand it any more and got in the Impala with a muttered farewell, soon followed by Sam and Cas. He watched as they drove off, feeling hopeful, though he knew this was going to be hard, he knew it was not only the right thing to do, but also probably the most important thing he would ever do in his life. He looked at his team, reflected for a moment just how lucky he was to have worked with them for as long as he had, and allowed his self to consider how Jason would have loved to have met Castiel. His old friend could probably have spent months on end happily just talking to the Angel, maybe he would see if something could be arranged, or at least find out how Jason was, if nothing else. He looked at the other three as he felt a stirring in his chest, one he hadn't felt in many years, it was the feeling he used to get at the beginning of a good case, and it was it's loss that had lead him to join the BAU, he grinned for what was probably the first time in years.

"This is going to be fun, lets play shall we?"

The others stared at him in shock for a moment before Derek and Rossi laughed and Spencer smiled at him.

"Nice to meet you Councillor Hotchner."

Hotch couldn’t shake the grin and patted Spencer on the shoulder, acknowledging his humour.

"Come on, lets go get the others before they really do lynch us!"

They had a lot of explaining to do to their friends, and even more to the Government, and it wouldn’t be easy, but they all knew it would work out in the end, and it would be worth it.

Perfectus.


End file.
